People with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher are considered obese. The term "obesity" is used to describe the health condition of anyone significantly above his or her ideal healthy weight. Don’t be discouraged by the term. It simply means you are 20% or more above your ideal weight, and you are not alone. Nearly 70% of western adults are either overweight or obese. Being obese puts you at a higher risk for health problems such as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes and more.

Essentials for TCM Diagnosis 
(1) Overweight: Standard weight (kg) = [height (cm)-100] × 0.9. If the actual body weight exceeds the standard weight by 20 % and muscularity and water retention are excluded, this can be diagnosed as obesity.

(2) Fat accumulation: Fat accumulation can be estimated by the thickness of skin fold. The average thickness of subscapular skin fold of a normal person aged 25 is 14.2 mm. The average thickness of skin fold of the deltoid region of a 25-year-old male is 10.4 mm, and that of a 25-year-old female is 17.5 mm.

(3) It may be accompanied with the following symptoms: listlessness, lassitude, drowsiness, palpitation, hyperorexia, hypologia, short breath, dyspnea, big belly and abdominal distension, or amenorrhea, impotence, aversion to heat, profuse sweating, pain of the back and loins, and arthragia.